Archive for January, 2015

It’s never been a more exciting time for TV and the future holds
unprecedented opportunities for creativity and innovation. In The
Future of Television Pamela Douglas, an award-winning screenwriter and
Professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, takes us on a tour of the
future—buckle up!

TV is no longer a box in the living room that families gather around
to watch shows that air once and then disappear. Today, TV programming
airs on multiple platforms anytime, anywhere. You can binge watch a
season of shows or catch an episode on your lunch break. The Web and
Cable have provided writers of TV with access and opportunities to
create compelling, sophisticated programming that would never have
made it past the gatekeepers of the networks a couple decades ago.

The future promises more, but few of us can make sense of the rapidly
changing landscape of TV. Enter Pamela Douglas. Douglas is the author
of THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION: YOUR GUIDE TO CREATING TV IN THE NEW
WORLD (Michael Wiese Productions, January, 2015) and a Professor at
USC’s School of Cinematic Arts where she guides young writers in
becoming professionals in this exploding era of TV. In her book she
offers a sweeping view of where TV is headed and speaks with some of
the key players in this new world. Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer
at Netflix; Michael Lombardo, President of Programming at HBO; and Amy
Berg, executive producer of acclaimed Web TV series’ are just a few of
the leading lights that Douglas interviews.

Douglas is available for interviews. Here is just some of what she can share:

· What’s behind the “Golden Age of TV?” Douglas explores how the
growth of technology and unprecedented creative freedom for writers
has brought us to the new dawn of TV.

· How the major networks have had to change to keep pace with
technological and creative innovation.

· How the “Empires of the New World”—Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and
others—are shaping the viewing habits of fans and offering new
possibilities for TV writers.

· Is the end of cable in sight? We may see cable as we know it
come to an end, with more cable channels offering themselves as
stand-alone options instead of as part of a bundle. While the legion
of consumers who “hate their cable company” may cheer this, it will
also present challenges to small producers trying to get a foothold in
TV.

· How cable TV and online streaming are changing TV writing.

· Transmedia: The outer edges of the future. With transmedia,
one story can stretch into multiple platforms. A TV series can be
based on a book, refashioned as a video game, or broken up into
shorter episodes to suit a specific platform. Each of these
manifestations may find a different audience. Douglas shares key
insights about this latest evolution in media.

· Why she says that nothing less than our creative options may
be at stake with the upcoming net neutrality ruling.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAMELA DOUGLAS is the author of The Future of Television: Your Guide
to Creating TV in the New World (2015). Her previous book, Writing the
TV Drama Series, now in its third edition, has been translated into
several languages, and adopted by network mentoring programs. It is
considered the premiere source on the subject.

She is an award-winning screenwriter, and was honored with the
Humanitas Prize for Between Mother and Daughter (CBS) that also won a
nomination for a Writers Guild Award. Multiple Emmy nominations and
awards from American Women in Radio and Television went to other shows
she has written, and her credits include developing the series
Ghostwriter, and writing for Star Trek: The Next Generation, that was
named one of the 101 best-written shows by The Writers Guild of
America.

At the University of Southern California, she is a tenured professor
in the School of Cinematic Arts, where she teaches writing for
television. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the
Writers Guild of America, West.

She consults internationally to professional TV writers and producers,
and has lectured in Africa, Europe, and throughout the United States.

PRAISE
“… If you are serious about working in television as a writer,
producer, or executive, you must read this book. It is the essential
guide.”
—Jack Epps, Jr., Ph.D., Chair, Writing for Screen and Television,
School of Cinematic Arts, USC

“…A must read for all who want to be players in the TV biz.”
—Lori H. Schwartz, Former Governor, Interactive Media Group,
Television Academy Digital Board, NATPE

“Pamela Douglas offers up a vital guide map for the creatively
perplexed with her clear, researched, and at times acerbic insights
that enumerate opportunities for writers and producers to develop
compelling content in transforming the worlds of media…”
—Jeremy Kagan, Chair of Special Projects for the Directors Guild of
America, Founder of Change Making Media Lab, Emmy-Winning Director,
Writer, Producer

“(Douglas) lets us see not only where we are now—this ‘new golden
age’—but where we are going. We are all of us savvier for her work,
insight, wisdom.”
—Howard A. Rodman, vice president, Writers Guild of America West

“…Read this fascinating book to see and profit from both the changing
and the perennial aspects of our extraordinary television future.”
—John Smart, President, Acceleration Studies Foundation, Author, How
Television Will Be Revolutionized